By Chris Murray
For the Sunday Sun
ABOVE PHOTO: Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo is sacked as Philadelphia Eagles defensive tackle Mike Patterson stands over him in the first half of an NFL football game Sunday, Oct. 30, 2011 in Philadelphia.
(AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator Rob Ryan will need a few antacids along with a couple of stiff drinks with a slice of humble pie when he reviews film of how Michael Vick, LeSean McCoy and the Eagles offense carved up his defense before a national television audience.
In the Eagles 34-7 shellacking of the Cowboys at Lincoln Financial Field Sunday night, the Birds scored on on their first six of their eight possessions in the game, rolled up 495 yards of total offense on the NFL’s seventh-ranked defense. McCoy gashed the Cowboys No.1 ranked defense against the run for 185 yards on 30 carries.
“I feel like the whole offense is actually clicking, not just running the ball,” McCoy said. “The offensive line is playing well. The guys are doing a great job of just blocking. They’re talented, they take a lot of heat, but I don’t see why.”
Oddly enough, McCoy was asked if he went back to head coach Andy Reid and asked for more carries. He said with all the weapons the Eagles have in players, he believes it’s not right for him to worry about his own touches.
“I think it would be selfish for a player on this offense to ask for the ball more because anybody can take off. We got the two best wide receivers in the league and we have guys like (Jason) Avant, who makes plays all the time, and (Tight end Brent) Celek,” McCoy said. “Right now, I’m hot. Next week or two weeks from now DeSean (Jackson) will be hot. You never know.”
When McCoy wasn’t running through the Cowboys defense, Vick was carving up Dallas with both his arm and his leg. He completed 21 of his 28 passes for 279 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions. He had a 129.9 passer rating. The former Virginia Tech star also ran the ball for 50 yards on seven carries. For the first time in 13 games, the Eagles did not turn the ball over.
“I thought Vick was sharp on on his decision-making and I don’t think there were a lot of deflected balls or fumbles,” said Eagles head coach Andy Reid.
Eagles offensive coordinator Marty Morhinweg said Vick had an outstanding game as a quarterback and is getting better at picking up the blitz.
“I thought Michael Vick played some excellent quarterback tonight,” Morhinweg said. “A couple of those touchdowns were his calls. He’s becoming a tremendous quarterback with recognizing the blitz and he did just a magnificent job with that. He has come a long way. He’s playing that quarterback at a high level.”
One of those plays that Vick called at the line was a 12-yard touchdown pass to Jeremy Maclin that gave the Eagles a 7-0 lead.
“I thought we had a pretty good play on, but I didn’t like it and I wanted to get out of it and was able to check it at the very last minute,” Vick said. “It was great communication and I give a lot of credit to the guys for putting themselves in a position to score and make the play.”
At the beginning of this season, there was plenty of uncertainty with the Eagles offensive, but against a hard-charing Dallas Sunday night, it was quite apparent that the line is starting to develop the kind of chemistry solid enough to protection.
“That’s been our mentality and I think we played above expectations when people were afraid to death to have us out there,” said left guard Evan Mathis. “Jason Kelce and Michael Vick did a tremendous job of directing traffic out there. If you watch the film, you’ll see us all talking, getting all together and figuring out where we have to go instead of walking up to the line and just guessing.”
The Eagles best offense was their defense as they held the ball for 42-minutes, nine-seconds to just 17: 51 for the Cowboys. Speaking of the defense, they kept Tony Romo and company in check by holding to just 267 yards of offense.
“It’s amazing, I think in the first half, I might have played eight plays or something like that. I’m fresh,” said defensive tackle Trevor Laws. “Every play I’m full sprint to the ball. When the offense is moving the ball like that, it helps us play better.”
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